


Dance with Me

by winterune



Series: ShuAnnWeek 2020 [4]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Historical, Day 4 Dance/Partners, F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Love Confessions, Romance, ShuAnn Week 2020, not exactly but somewhat? lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23901751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterune/pseuds/winterune
Summary: In this historical fantasy AU, Ann reluctantly goes to a ball held by one of her peers. Business. That was what her father had said. These social events are the same as business. Ann hates it here and she wants to leave, but before she could, Ren appears by her side.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Takamaki Ann, Kurusu Akira/Takamaki Ann, Persona 5 Protagonist/Takamaki Ann
Series: ShuAnnWeek 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692301
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33
Collections: Shuann Week 2020





	Dance with Me

**Author's Note:**

> Entry for Shuann Week 2020  
> Day 4 Prompt: Dance/Partners
> 
> I set this in a historical fantasy AU, where Ann's the daughter of famous tailors and Ren is the son of a prominent government figure. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy :)

What was she doing here?

Ann stifled a yawn and plastered a smile on her face at the person she was talking to—the son of some important government figure. He had the same smile on his face all throughout their lengthy, pointless conversation. All he had talked about were his father’s position, his family’s prominence, _his_ achievements. Not that Ann cared about any of those. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and handsome. The kind of guy that would be the talk of the town and the sole subject of affection of many of the noble young ladies in the kingdom.

Business. That was what her father had said. These social events were the same as business. Meet the right people, make the right connections. “And mind your manners, Ann,” he had said before he sent her off.

Music played in the background and couples were dancing to it at the center of the huge room. Ann had been invited to a ball held by one of her peers for her birthday, Erika. They weren’t close. Not at all. In fact, Ann was probably among the people she had blacklisted. But their families were business acquaintances, and even smug Erika had to get down her high horse because this was as much of a business to her as this was to Ann.

“What’s wrong, Ann?”

The question brought her mind back to the present and like an automatic switch, Ann looked at her partner with a smile and said, “Oh, nothing. What was it you were saying?”

_Partner_. Ann almost winced at herself for referring to him as her partner. He wasn’t. He was only someone she met at the party, who had gotten up to her the moment she stepped foot in that golden ballroom and asked her to dance. She had indulged him in it—her father’s words kept repeating in her head: _mind your manners_ —and had thought that that would be it, but it had been over half an hour and still he wouldn’t let her go out of his sight.

Ann hoped her smile wasn’t strained. And this boy—she had even forgotten what his name was—didn’t even seem interested in her as a person.

Business, she had to remind herself. People were doing business here. Either they were trying to sell themselves and their families, or they were trying to grovel. Fake flatteries.

Light spilled from the crystalline chandelier hanging from high above and the countless lamps on the walls all around. It reflected off the marble floors and brass handles on the doors and ceiling-to-floor windows, painting the room in a golden hue. On one end was the door leading to the hallway outside, and on the other was a set of stairs spreading wide at the bottom like a lady’s skirt. A mansion fit for the kings and queens, indeed.

Ann found her eyes straying to the side of the room, where a buffet table stood with all sorts of dishes ranging from chicken dipped in honey, steak with various flavored sauce, creamy pasta, grilled seafood, and a variety kind of salad, juice, and desert.

_Mind your manners_.

Not that she could eat a lot, what’s with her dress being too tight and she couldn’t even breathe properly.

“Your mind seems to stray quite frequently tonight,” the boy before her said again

“Hm?” Internally shaking herself, she looked up at him with that automatic smile. The music ended, and the couples bowed or curtsied to one another before dispersing in a rustle of clothes.

“Do I bore you?”

Her height was one of the things she prided herself on, and with her high heels, she was easily one of the taller girls present. But still, the top of her head only reached the boy’s cheek. Brown hair framed his face, his eyes a deep shade of ebony. Ann could see how the girls would fall head over heels in love with him.

But now there was a hint of a frown in his eternally charming face and a red warning flashed in her mind.

“Of course not—”

Before she could finish her sentence, however, an elderly man appeared on his side. He looked to be a personal attendant and he murmured the boy’s name quietly. _Haruhiko_. Right, that was the name she had forgotten. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but, after a moment or so, Haruhiko frowned, and he turned to her with dejection in his eyes.

“Forgive me, my Lady, I have something I must attend to,” he said.

Ann sighed internally. She had braced herself for something worse, only to stiffen again when he suddenly took her hand and brought her fingers to his lips. A gentle brush that probably should have sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach, but no. _No!_ Ann tried not to jerk her hand back as she gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I hope we will meet again before the night ends.”

Ann nodded stiffly. “I hope we will.”

That winning smile again. She could almost hear the girls around her sigh.

Haruhiko let go of her hand, then with a bow, he turned on his heels and followed his attendant through the throng of finely dressed people in bowtie and suits or dresses and evening gowns.

Ann let out a relieved sigh. Finally, she was free.

She looked around and wondered where she should go when her stomach rumbled, asking for food. She hadn’t had dinner. Her eyes found the buffet table again and those honey-dipped chicken made her mouth water.

As she was heading toward it, however, she could feel the glaring daggers thrown her way. Girls—their animosity as clear as daylight at how much of Haruhiko’s time Ann had monopolized. As though it had been _her_ conscious choice to waste half an hour listening to a narcissist talking about himself.

God, she wanted to get out of here! 

Music had begun to play again and couples had taken the center space to a different waltz.

Maybe she _should_ leave. No one would notice. No one would mind. Right?

She had reached the buffet and instead of filling her plate with chicken and pasta, she moved over to the dessert section and was stacking cake after cake before she caught herself and realized she’d taken too much.

“I saw that,” a voice, quiet and soft, murmured in her ear. Ann jumped in surprise and turned around in instinct, an excuse or another ready in her lips, only to find a snicker on a familiar face—Ren, dressed in a black jacket over a white shirt and bow tie, his deep grey eyes were laughing behind his black-rimmed glasses, his hair still looked unruly even in a social event such as this.

“Ren!” she hissed.

The smirk only grew wider. “I hope we’ll meet again before the night ends,” he copied Haruhiko’s words and brought Ann’s free hand to his lips, only to stop short and grin. “How’s that for an imitation?”

She should have expected to find him here. He came from another important family in the kingdom, one that would never have escaped Erika’s family’s radar. But Ren was not a party-person, and he hadn’t said anything about attending the ball, even though Ann had complained to him countless times how her parents were practically forcing her to go. Her surprise in seeing him, topped with this unexpected gesture of almost kissing her hand, was enough to make her mind go blank, but instead of a repulsion, Ann felt her stomach knotting and her heartbeat growing unnaturally faster, thudding hard against her ribcage. 

It took her a while to realize that Ren was teasing her. She pulled her hand back and looked away, trying to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks.

“You don’t sound like him at all,” she said, and cursed herself for sounding so shaky. She needed...she needed to take a deep breath and calm her heart.

But Ren peered into her eyes and the sudden proximity to his face made her take a step back. “Are you blushing?”

“Of course not.”

A pause, a flicker of emotion passing through his eyes, so quick to disappear before Ann had the chance to register it. He leaned back on his heels. “Were you still too enraptured by Haruhiko’s beauty to form a coherence thought, then?”

“Wha—?” Ann balked. She looked up at him and couldn’t even begin to understand if she wanted to laugh or to scowl. The idea was too stupid, too incredulous that she didn’t know what to say. “Enraptured? Me?” She couldn’t help the scoff.

Ren plucked a strawberry from the cakes on her plate and plopped it into his mouth. Ann frowned at him. “Well, that’s all right then,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

Ren shrugged.

“You’re not making any sense, Ren.” Ren went to pick a cherry from her plate, and she slapped his hand away. “Go grab your own cake!” He grinned at her. Ann looked away and sliced her chocolate cake with a fork and brought it to her mouth. “Anyway, eavesdropping is not very gentlemanly.”

Ren laughed. “I wouldn’t call that eavesdropping when half the floor had their eyes on you,” he said.

She glanced at him at that, wondering if there was any meaning hidden behind it, but she shook her head, because that was preposterous. There was no way Ren would see her like that. 

“I guess,” she began, “every mother with a daughter wants him for a son-in-law.” Social standing and reputation—she never understood why these two mattered so much. “I don’t like him, though,” she muttered, scooping more cake into her mouth.

Another pause, before Ren asked, “Why?”

“All he talked about was himself, as if that’s all that mattered in the world.”

“Well, he _is_ the Prime Minister’s son,” Ren offered. Ann scoffed. “And the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom.”

She looked sideways at him. “What are you trying to say?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “maybe, how that kind of person was captivated by you the entire night?”

Ann frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

But Ren only shrugged and didn’t give any more comments. She watched his eyes stray over to the dancing couples on the floor and Ann didn’t understand why but a strange heaviness lodged itself in her chest. A sort of heaviness that made it hard to breathe. Ann gritted her teeth and set her jaws as she finished her dessert in angry bites and filled her plate with more pudding and cake.

Ren noticed it and snickered. “You’ll get sick eating that much sugar,” he said. She wolfed them down without listening to him. “Slow down or you’ll get indigestion.” Let her get indigestion. Maybe then this heaviness would go away.

An attendant passed by them with a tray full of glasses filled with translucent yellow cocktail and Ren swiped a couple of them. “Here,” he said, offering one to her.

She looked at it, then at his face, and even though she was still upset, the smile he had was so soft, so warm, that her heart couldn’t help but make a little skip. 

Smooth. This boy was too smooth. A mundane, normal gesture he had done countless times. He was her friend. They had known each other for years and she had always felt safe around him. Yet lately, every time she saw that easy smile and the crinkle in his eyes, her stomach would do a little flip-flop and she didn’t know what to do with herself. 

Ann gulped down the cake and cream in her mouth and accepted the drink from him. “Thanks,” she murmured.

As she brought the glass to her lips, she noticed him cocking his head from the corner of her eyes. “You’ve got something there,” he said, before his fingers moved and she felt its warmth against her skin, gently swiping at a stray cream from the corner of her mouth.

Ann’s hands stilled, her heart beating a mile a minute. Heat spread up her neck, her face, and ears. However, Ren only wiped his fingers on a napkin he found on the buffet table, as though he had done nothing out of the ordinary. He noticed her stare and Ann immediately looked away.

“I—I—” Ann cursed herself internally at the stutter. She cleared her throat. “I’m going to get some air.”

It wasn’t an invitation. Not in the least. In fact, she wanted to get away from him for a while. But Ren followed close behind her, easily catching up to take his place by her side.

“What are you doing?”

“It doesn’t bode well for a lady to be seen by herself.”

Ann scoffed. “Since when have you seen me as a lady?”

Again, that small sweet smile that made it impossible for her to look at him.

Ren didn’t seem like it, but he was still popular. Walking through the throng of people, she could still feel the furtive glances thrown at her—not as hostile as before, but still making her feel uncomfortable. She could just imagine how many girls would line up to get him to dance with them. 

And yet here he was, walking beside her. After monopolizing Haruhiko’s time, now she was monopolizing Ren’s time—the two most eligible bachelors in the kingdom. And Ann had to ask why she couldn’t make any friends. 

When they reached the open glass doors, the cool night air hit her face and brushed against the back of her neck beneath her updo hair. Finally, Ann felt like she could breathe. The door led to a wide veranda, with curving flights of stairs on both sides that led down to a flower garden below. It was lit by a myriad of little lights on the ground, like small stars amidst the bright yellows, reds, and whites. Far at the heart of the garden was a fountain; the sound of water trickling soothed her senses.

Ann leaned against the marble railings and looked up to the sky. Stars littered the vast inky blackness. A crescent moon hung in its lonesome, shining down upon them. Ann took a deep breath of the fresh night air. Her mind was finally at ease. She was free. 

Ren rested his elbows on the railing beside her. Taking a sip of his cocktail, he murmured, “Did you pick your own dress for tonight?”

Ann nodded, with a sip of her own drink. It was an off-the-shoulder ivory gown, with beautiful, intricate embroideries on the bodies and small little white jewels inlaid on the skirt. Courtesy of her mother.

“Good taste,” Ren said.

She glanced at him. Was he being sarcastic? Or was he being genuine? Usually, her mother would dictate how she should dress to events such as this, and Ren knew that. But knowing her mother, she would have forced Ann to wear something that would have made a statement—here was the daughter of the most sought-out tailors in the kingdom. Had she gone through with her mother’s wishes, Ann had no doubt she would have inspired Erika’s wrath. There was nothing that girl hated more than seeing someone outshine her. Ann wasn’t exaggerating when she thought it could have negatively impacted the relationship between their families.

“Thanks,” she said. “Though, Mom still had a say in it.” 

Ren chuckled. “Of course.” He raised his glass at her. “Considerate enough of you to think of birthday girl’s feelings.”

Ann frowned at the sarcasm in his tone. “You don’t sound happy with that.”

“Hey, you’re still the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met but sometimes, I’d like to see a frown on Erika’s face when her perfect little world crumbles all around her just because you stole her show.”

She was tempted to laugh, because yes, Ann _would_ love to see that too, given how mean Erika could be, but her mind had caught on the nonchalant way he called her beautiful and it made her stomach knot again. Her face threatened to break into a smile.

“Oh, but then again, you did monopolize Haruhiko for half an hour,” Ren went on. “That surely would have ruffled her feathers.”

The smile Ann had tried so hard to hide immediately turned to a frown. _Haruhiko again_ , she thought. She had never met him before this night and yet for some reason, Ren wouldn’t let go of the fact that yes, she _did_ spend some time with him because there was no way she could have refused when someone with a social standing such as him had asked her to dance.

“Why didn’t you come earlier then?” she asked, but her voice was too quiet for him to hear. She glared at him, only to find him drinking from his glass, looking straight at the fountain in the garden, not noticing her at all. Did she matter so little to him? Did thirty minutes of interaction really meant more than the years they had spent together?

“What about you though?” she asked, her voice clipped. That caught his attention.

“What?”

“Shouldn’t you also be forming connections with some important people?”

“What are you talking about?”

Ann’s frown deepened and she looked away, taking a huge gulp of her cocktail. “I mean, that’s probably why you’re here, right?” she said. “Your father probably sent you here to make connections with some important people. You wouldn’t have gone to such a party otherwise.” Because that was true. The only reason Ren was here was probably because his father had forced him to come. Not only once had she seen him being reprimanded by his father for not being more “social”. But, maybe that’s why she felt comfortable around him. Two people who felt out of place in a society that demanded a good standing and good connections.

“What’s gotten you so angry all of a sudden?”

“I’m not angry!” she snapped.

Ren tilted his head to the side, his eyes boring into the side of her head.

_Stop it, Ann_ , her mind seemed to say. _Stop it before you say anything you regret_.

But she couldn’t stop. Her mouth had gotten a mind of its own.

“I mean, who am I? I’m a nobody. The only good thing I have are parents who make clothes for a living. But you? You’re the son of a minister with a good standing. Shouldn’t you be seeking out some important connections instead of spending time with me? Shouldn’t you be talking with Erika instead?”

The silence that followed her outburst was deafening, filled with tension so thick that it was almost suffocating. It was a moment or two later, when her chest was heaving and she was glaring into the far-off distance, that pain from her nails digging into her palms brought her back to her senses and she realized she hadn’t entirely meant everything that she had said. She almost turned to him, but an inherent fear of what she would find on his face rooted her to the spot.

Light spilled out from inside the ballroom where music still played and couples still danced. The chatters and laughter and giggles sounded so distant when all she could hear was the beating of her heart against her eardrums. She eyed the shadow to her right, _Ren’s_ shadow, and waited for it to leave—for his footsteps to fall and his warmth to fade. But it never did, and instead, came his voice, quiet in the night, carried by the wind.

“You’re important to me, though.”

That made her pause. Did she hear right? Were her ears playing tricks on her again? She didn’t dare look to meet his eyes.

“Look at me, Ann.” She wouldn’t. She didn’t want to. But Ren was touching the crook of her elbow and, softly, he said it again. “Look at me.”

She turned on her heels but kept her eyes trained on the ground. She could feel his stare and she wondered what kind of expression he had on his face.

“Ann—” She jerked at his voice. A pause before he said again, quietly, “Do you wanna go somewhere?”

“What?” The question had taken her off guard that she instinctively looked up at his face, and what she saw wasn’t indignation or hurt. He wore a mischievous grin, the ones she would see every time he came to see her at the park.

He nodded toward the stairs behind him. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s leave this place.”

Ann looked at those stairs. It would lead them down to the garden, and also around the mansion to the gate at the front. They would be able to leave without anyone noticing and asking questions.

Ren was holding out his hand, waiting for her to take it. An invitation. She could refuse him. She could go back. Her parents wouldn’t want her to leave so early anyway. But then she saw the smile in his eyes, and she couldn’t look away.

Ann left her glass at the veranda as she took Ren’s hand and followed him out.

*******

They took her carriage and went to the park by the river. It was quiet and deserted at this time of night. The air was so still, occasionally broken by the sounds of crickets in the thickets. Neither of them had spoken since they left Erika’s mansion, lost in their own thoughts, but Ren had kept his hand on hers, holding it tight with no intention of letting go.

She followed him silently, their footsteps matching in rhythm as they walked down the pavement between the trees and the grass, their path lit by the streetlights on either side. In the silence, she spoke:

“Sorry I shouldn’t have said what I said.”

“No,” Ren began, his voice too quiet, too hoarse. He cleared his throat. “No, _I’m_ sorry. I guess I went too far with my teasing.”

“Yes, you did.”

His only reply was a quiet derisive laugh. Ren tightened his hold on her hand. “Sorry, I was being petty.”

“Petty?”

She looked up at him at the same moment he glanced down at her. The unexpected meeting of their eyes, added with the proximity of their bodies, the warmth from their linked hands, and the memory of what had led to this sudden moonlit stroll made the heat go into her head and Ann instinctively looked away.

Ren chuckled under his breath. “It honestly perplexes me how you fail to see how I have always felt about you.”

Her ears pricked at that.

“Have you never wondered the reason why I stay by your side?” he went on. “Or why I’d hold your hand in mine?” He opened his palm, only to interlace his fingers with hers. She looked at it—at this new, intimate gesture that was enough to send her pulse racing.

“I’ve always wondered,” she said. “Have always wanted to know. I’ve written countless what-if scenarios in my head, but I never dared to dream.” She looked at him, and found him already staring back, and it made her want to smile. “Maybe I didn’t want to believe what I saw.”

They finally stopped and Ann recognized the place Ren had brought her to. The corridor of trees opened up to a massive clearing with a lit-up fountain at the center. Silver and gold, with the statue of a woman pouring water from a jar. There had been a festival all those years ago, with food stalls and music and dances. It was here where a boy with black unruly hair and smoky grey eyes came up to her and asked her to dance.

“It upset me when I saw someone you don’t even know kissed your hand like it was no big deal, when it took me seven years to even gather the courage to ask you for a stroll.” He brought their linked hands to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand.

It felt different—different from the time Haruhiko had kissed her hand. Whereas she had felt repulsed when Haruhiko’s lips had caressed her skin, Ann couldn’t even begin to describe what she was feeling now. The soft bangs that fell over his eyes, the face that had always looked so precious, and when he looked up, that sweet, sweet smile that always made her heart clench tight and soar at the same time. And the way he looked at her. It was that glimmer of emotion she had seen earlier, the ones she had seen countless times before that he always hid before she could make any sense of them.

It made her feel like she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

“Will you dance with me?” he asked.

She could hear it, then, the distant melody, the ghost of music from her far-off memory. It played in her mind and before she knew it, they were humming the same tune.

They smiled at each other and laughed under their breaths. He drew her close, his arm around her waist, as he pulled at her hand and led her into a dance. 

**~ END ~**

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :D Please leave kudos/comments if you find this fic to your liking. I'd love to know what you think. Thanks!


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